Refuse vehicles have existed for many years. These vehicles typically have a cab, a hopper, a portable container lifting system and a storage body or compartment in which the refuse is dumped into and stored during transportation. The lifting system has a pivotal arm having a pivotal fork at the end thereof. The fork has tines which are configured to be received within receiving channels on the sides of a portable container which is stationed at the pick-up location.
In use, an operator drives the vehicle to a pick-up site where the refuse is transferred from the portable container to the vehicle storage compartment. The operator typically aligns the height and orientation of the tines of the fork with the receiving channels of the portable container, then advances the vehicle so that the tines slide into the container receiving channels. The arms are then pivoted backwards and the forks rotated to a position wherein the portable container is nearly inverted above the hopper so that refuse therein is dumped into the vehicle storage compartment. The operator then returns the container to the ground and removes the fork tines from the receiving channels of the portable container.
Should the portable container be placed upon uneven terrain, it is often difficult to align the fork tines with the container receiving channels. Additionally, this same problem occurs when extracting the fork tines upon return of the container to the ground. Should the forks be misaligned upon withdrawal of the tines, they may drag the container across the ground as the vehicle is reversed.
Another problem has come about since many containers are positioned upon loading docks elevated above street level. Here, the operator must raise the arms and then align the fork with a container which may be located six to eight feet above the street. The operator must align the fork with the arms substantially pivoted backwards towards the dumping position. After the contents are dumped from the container, the arms and forks must be returned to this elevated position. The task of initially aligning the forks with the arms in an elevated position and its return to this position has proven to be difficult.
Accordingly, it is seen that a need remains for a refuse vehicle which may easily realign the forks to facilitate their removal from the receiving channels of a portable container. It is to the provision of such, therefore, that the present invention is primarily directed.